It has long been the custom in dog tracks to provide a mechanical rabbit lure, carried on the end of an arm extending over the track and in the path of the dogs, the lure being advanced by an electric motor travelling on a track such as the inner periphery fence. Such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 611,876 to Walsh of Oct. 4, 1898, U.S. Pat. No. 1,647,067 to Wilson of Oct. 25, 1927, U.S. Pat. No. 1,703,496 to Naud of FEB. 26, 1929, U.S. Pat. No. 1,728,576 to Schem of Sept. 17,1929, U.S. Pat. No. 1,733,069 to Naud of Oct. 22, 1929, U.S. Pat. No. 1,850,048 to Ballew of Mar. 15, 1932 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,430,403 to Lemire of Nov. 4, 1947.
It should be noted that the danger of the dogs being hurt by colliding with mechanical lures when mistakenly running the wrong way, or when overtaking the lure at the end of a race is pointed out in the above patent to Schem, U.S. Pat. No. 1,728,576. In the Lemire U.S. Pat. No. 2,430,403 the lure support rod is arranged to yield upon contact with a dog for the same reasons.
A non-mechanical lure for dog tracks is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,602,499 to Meinecke of Oct. 12, 1926, wherein a motion picture projector on a revolving turret in the centre of a track projects a picture of a rabbit on the inside wall of an outer periphery fence around the track. A series of successively illuminated pictures of a rabbit mounted around the outside wall of a race course is disclosed in French Patent 651,564 to Shea et al of Oct. 9, 1928. A series of successively illuminated single bulbs set ten yards apart each in a box with a transparent cover is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,457,968 to Allen of Jan. 4, 1949, the series being within the inclosure of the inside fence of the track.